Really Reading Gertrude Stein

de Judy Grahn

This book is organized into three sections, each beginning with an essay that clarifies the following selections, usually in excerpted form, from Stein's poetry, fiction, and drama. The essays act as a primer for the reader who is uneasy about approaching the often confounding writings of Stein. Poet/novelist Grahn tends to be personal and intuitive rather than scholarly in her remarks, which are not particularly theoretical but do serve as a commentary on the texts. Because the concepts and vocabulary are simplistic at times, the essays provide a good introduction for the novice reader of Stein but would probably prove too elementary for the initiated.